Following our sell-out event at last year's Steyning Festival, we return again this summer for what promises to be another great evening. Three Snake River authors, Peter Brandon (The Shaping of the Sussex Landscape), Viv Croot (Salacious Sussex) and David Mortimer (Sussex Wildlife) will be talking about their books on Friday 4th June at 7.30pm at Springwells Hotel in Steyning' lovely High Street. The event costs £5 and tickets can be booked on 01903 812062 or online by visiting www.steyningfestival.co.uk.

 Snake River Press are pleased to invite readers to join us for a very special evening at Worthing Library on Wednesday 12th May, hosted by Waterstones Bookshop. Viv Croot (Salacious Sussex) and Peter Brandon (The Shaping of the Sussex Landscape) will be discussing their recently-published titles at 7pm. Tickets cost £3 and include refreshments. This promises to be an entertaining and illuminating event and we very much look forward to meeting you there.

For more information and tickets contact Worthing Library, Richmond Road, Worthing, BN11 1HD, telephone 01903 704809.

 This spring saw the publication of The Shaping of the Sussex Landscape by Peter Brandon, one of the county's most knowledgeable and entertaining writers. We are delighted to announce that Much Ado Books of Alfriston will be hosting an evening with Peter on Wednesday 28th April at 7pm. The ticket price of £15 includes a delicious two-course meal. The venue is Dean's Place Hotel, Alfriston. Call 01323 870248 for tickets.

The delightful Sussex garden Leonardslee at Lower Beeding, is to close its gates to the public later this year. The garden was begun in 1801 and was bought by Sir Edmund Loder (of the famous Sussex gardening dynasty) in 1889. Leonardslee was first opened to the public in 1907 but, due to a change of ownership, sadly this will be its last open season (April to June see www.leonardsleegardens.com for opening times).

Leonardslee and the Loder family feature in two Snake River titles, 20 Sussex Gardens and Inspiring Sussex Gardeners, both by Lorraine Harrison. In the former she writes, In many ways a trip to Leonardslee is quite unlike visiting any of the other gardens featured in this book. It is far more like going on a beautiful woodland walk than strolling round a garden, although in country that resembles visions of a selectively planted Himalayan Eden rather than the more ubiquitous scenes of Sussex. If one then adds to this heightened sense of entering an idyll the occasional glimpse of springing wallabies (yes, real marsupials!) all comparisons with other gardens fail completely.

I urge everyone to take this last opportunity to visit this wonderful and unique garden over the coming months.

For over a year Sussex publisher Snake River Press has produced a much-loved regular feature for the weekend Argus. Entitled Sussex Bookends, A Weekly Celebration of the Sussex Character, this page has featured a rich mix of topical news, eccentric facts, up-coming events, excerpts from Snake River titles and a popular Saturday quiz. Sadly this weekend sees the publication of our last Bookends.

We would like to thank the Brighton-based Argus newspaper for providing this opportunity to promote the county we love so much, and to send a special thanks to all the loyal readers who have emailed us with their Sussex anecdotes, dialect words, quiz entries and compliments. It's been fun.

All fans of Sussex Bookends and Snake River Press books should visit the Snake River website regularly as we will continue to provide a lively mix of information about forthcoming events, news and items of interest to Sussex enthusiasts everywhere. And don’t forget to look out for the quiz and your chance to win Snake River Books.

Snake River Press is dedicated to publishing beautiful, collectable cultural guides to Sussex. Our list focuses on different aspects of the county's history, landscape, art and culture, which together paint a unique picture of Sussex life both past and present. Our collection has been lovingly crafted for discerning readers who want something more bespoke than the usual fare on offer. Snake River Press publications are intelligently written and beautifully packaged and make perfect presents for friends and family or a self-indulgent treat for yourself.

How did Sussex get to look like what it looks like today? What does its distinctive landscape tell us about how people lived and worked here in the past? What impact have invasion, technology, war and, most importantly, sheep made on it? Find out how today's landscape is the joint and ongoing creation of nature's long, slow relentless shift and humanity's incessant bodging and fidgeting with its environment. To the untrained eye, the rolling Sussex landscape looks like a natural phenomenon that has been in place for millennia. But as this fascinating guide shows, what we see today is the result of centuries of human activity and interference. Did you know, for example, that Sussex was once the heart of the iron industry? The clues are in the hammer ponds, found in what are now idyllic backwater villages and bosky woodland. These were once Sussex's version of Blake's satanic mills. The Shaping of the Sussex Landscape will help train your historic eye to pierce through the layers of time, changing custom and technology, to discover the different ways the land has been used and really appreciate and understand the ingenious ways the landscape has been shaped and continues to be shaped to new needs and attitudes.

Visit our bookshop to find out more about The Shaping of the Sussex Landscape by Peter Brandon.

Snake River Press is dedicated to publishing beautiful, collectable cultural guides to Sussex. Our list focuses on different aspects of the county's history, landscape, art and culture, which together paint a unique picture of Sussex life both past and present. Our collection has been lovingly crafted for discerning readers who want something more bespoke than the usual fare on offer. Snake River Press publications are intelligently written and beautifully packaged and make perfect presents for friends and family or a self-indulgent treat for yourself.

Salacious means salty: not just the brininess of the sea, but of the spice-of-life-and- sometimes-death kind. It seemed the appropriate word to use for an invigorating gallop alongside the the fast-and-loose livers of the Sussex-by-the-Sea, past and present. Some people try to claim that the filthing of Sussex is a result if the Brighton effect, the insidious metropolitan stain of London-sur-Mer oozing out over the rest of us, but history proves them wrong. It's not all down to Georgie Peorgie and his naughty puddings, pies and tarts. You would not believe what used to go on in Steyning of all places, who would have thought it. And if you believe that gang violence was something invented by asbo-wielding hoodies, wait until you meet the Hawkhurst tea barons or the Hastings Chopbacks and their spine-splitting cutlasses. In what other county could any one have pulled off a scam as eccentric as the Piltdown Man? Sussex is just as renowned for its darkside as for its natural sunny beauty, and Salacious Sussex is the book to celebrate it.

Visit our bookshop to find out more about Salacious Sussex by Viv Croot.

Snake River Press is dedicated to publishing beautiful, collectable cultural guides to Sussex. Our list focuses on different aspects of the county's history, landscape, art and culture, which together paint a unique picture of Sussex life both past and present. Our collection has been lovingly crafted for discerning readers who want something more bespoke than the usual fare on offer. Snake River Press publications are intelligently written and beautifully packaged and make perfect presents for friends and family or a self-indulgent treat for yourself.

Even if you can't tell a hobby from a handsaw, the sight of a soaring bird over the Sussex Downs always lifts the heart. That's what seasoned bird-watcher Rob Yarham believes, and to help the rest of us to get more out of these life-affirming moments, he has chosen his top 20 Sussex birds and written an affectionate personal tribute to each of them. His descriptions of the birds and his encounters with them will inspire you to go out looking with new eyes. The second-half of Bird Watching in Sussex is devoted to a review of the best sites and places to find Rob's top 20, and many other fascinating birds: Sussex natives, incomers and birds of passage.

Visit our bookshop to find out more about Bird Watching in Sussex by Rob Yarham.

Snake River Press is dedicated to publishing beautiful, collectable cultural guides to Sussex. Our list focuses on different aspects of the county's history, landscape, art and culture, which together paint a unique picture of Sussex life both past and present. Our collection has been lovingly crafted for discerning readers who want something more bespoke than the usual fare on offer. Snake River Press publications are intelligently written and beautifully packaged and make perfect presents for friends and family or a self-indulgent treat for yourself.

If you're on a tight budget, or if you simply want to have fun at a slower pace, mother-and-daughter team Susan & Gina Jamieson show you the way. Old-Fashioned Family Days Out in Sussex contains 20 fun-filled family outings around the county that everyone can enjoy for free. They cover coast, forests, countryside, grand houses and intriguing little local museums and parks. Some of our ‘days out' need more energy and stamina than others, some are rainy-day treats, but each one will engage hearts and minds. To help make the outings more hands-on, Susan & Gina have included the occasional nostalgic recipe, games to play and tips on how to create your own props at home before setting out. Get ready for some genuine old-fashioned fun that you can treasure forever.

Visit our bookshop to find out more about Old-Fashioned Family Days Out in Sussex by Susan & Gina Jamieson.

Snake River Press is dedicated to publishing beautiful, collectable cultural guides to Sussex. Our list focuses on different aspects of the county's history, landscape, art and culture, which together paint a unique picture of Sussex life both past and present. Our collection has been lovingly crafted for discerning readers who want something more bespoke than the usual fare on offer. Snake River Press publications are intelligently written and beautifully packaged and make perfect presents for friends and family or a self-indulgent treat for yourself.

We hope that many of our readers will join us at Borders Bookshop, Churchill Square, Brighton on Thursday 18th June at 6.30pm. Three of our authors will be talking about their abiding passions and signing copies of their books. All are welcome so do come along and meet Susan Jamieson, who has written the timely Old-Fashioned Family Days Out in Sussex; Pat Bowen, who inspires all who read her 20 Sussex Walks to get out and enjoy our endlessly varied county, and Rob Yarham whose Bird Watching in Sussex is proving a firm favourite with our readers this summer.

We look forward to meeting you on the 18th.